Silent Hill: Love, Death and Tears
by Tomohawk
Summary: An original story about a man called Daniel whose depressive state is rocked when he finds a stuffed dog in his bed. Daniel follows a trail of clues from the dog to the town of Silent Hill, where he finds strange occurrences and old faces he didn't think he'd see again.


All was quiet.

The amount of time that passed seemed insurmountable. Days had turned into months, months into years, until eventually Daniel couldn't even begin to recall the day that it had happened.

He was existing in a daze. Days blurred into one another, mainly focused around his time spent longing for home and dreading leaving it. He wished that life would wait for him to re-join it, but the world does not stop spinning for the traumas of one person.

His time spent alone meant that he didn't have to deal with the world. But the world was the only place that he could find solitude from the thoughts that plagued him when he was alone. Depression hung low over him like some mad creature that taunted him with malicious intent and jibing words, making every effort to stay a normal, functioning human an uphill struggle. Oftentimes, he felt like giving in and just wiling away his time in a spiral of self-pity and apathy. But every time he felt this way, there would be a reminder that giving up was not an option. Not now, not ever.

Staring up at the ceiling for the umpteenth time this evening in November, Daniel considered how, since he was meticulous about the state of cleanliness in his apartment, it almost looked like nobody lived here anymore. The kitchen was spotless, with no trace of foodstuffs outside of the fridge and the dish dryer devoid of anything actually drying on it. The lounge was perfectly arranged, with the couches and tables clean and cleared of anything that didn't belong on them. He hadn't turned on his TV for some time, despite desperately needing the distraction from his own thoughts. The television just sat under the window, blank and lifeless like the rest of the apartment. His bedroom, despite being the room that he spent the most time in these days, was still fresh and showed no signs of use. His bed was always perfectly made, his wardrobe filled with clean clothes. The only sign that things weren't in pristine condition was the build-up of dust. Daniel just couldn't be bothered dealing with it.

As he lay there on his bed, he felt like it was perhaps time he went to see a friend. Perhaps it was time he got out there and lived a little. Anything would be better than being cooped up in this goddamn room.

He went to his wardrobe and selected a decent enough shirt for meeting people in. He didn't like wearing shirts if he could avoid it, his broad shoulders often made it difficult to find something comfortable that was also smart, but he didn't want people to realise that he was in a decrepit state, especially after it being so long.

He went to the phone and looked through his address book for a number that he thought would have a friendly voice on the other end. He flicked through the book past A…B…C…D… He hesitated on "Dad".

"No, not now" He thought to himself, "It's still not time. He doesn't understand"

E…F…G…H…I…J…

God dammit. Why was that number still in his phone book? He took out a pen from the drawer under the phone and went to scribble the name and number out. But instead he hovered above the name for a while, staring. His eyes began to water.

'Not today I guess.' He thought.

He put the pen down and kept going.

K…L…M…

Mark.

Fuck Mark.

He wouldn't be able to pick up anyway.

N…O…P…Q…R…

Rupert! Of course, Rupert! Rupert was the perfect person to go see just now, he was never in a sour mood! Daniel needed some carefree company just now.

He dialled the number.

The phone rang 12 times before he gave up.

"Dammit."

He couldn't seem to get in contact with anyone these days. No matter the time of day, people were always busy.

"Busy with life I guess…" Daniel muttered to himself.

He wandered back through to his bedroom, considering just going out for a stroll in order to do something with the day besides stare at the ceiling. As he walked through the door, his breath caught in his throat when he looked at his bed.

A pair of eyes stared back at him from under the covers.

Daniel almost ran from the room, terrified of what may be looking at him. But as he stood tensed, waiting for something to happen, he noticed that whatever was looking at him made no noise. The bed covers were quite still, and the eyes never moved. Daniel moved slowly towards the bed, picking up a pen from his desk in case he needed to stab whatever it was that was under the covers.

He threw back the covers with one hand and raised the other, ready to strike. However, what greeted him from under the covers was no threat. Sitting on his bed was a small, brown, furry dog. At first, Daniel thought that it was asleep given the lack of movement, but after a moment he saw that it wasn't even breathing. He squatted down and looked into the deep black eyes that had been staring at him from under the covers. The dog, a young Cocker Spaniel, had its mouth open as if it was panting, but its tongue was…wrong. It struck Daniel that the dog was dead. It had been stuffed and was left looking like a very happy dog. Only its left back leg was contorted in what looked like an unnatural manner.

Daniel looked at the dog for a long time. It seemed familiar to him for some reason, but he couldn't fathom why. He'd never had a dog as a child; his father had said that they were too much maintenance and they shed everywhere.

Daniel noticed that the dog was wearing a collar. He held the name tag in his fingers and read the inscription.

'Molly, (616) 971-0250'

"Molly…" Daniel muttered to himself. The name stuck in his head. He couldn't shake the feeling that he knew this dog from somewhere, but the details were lost to him.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed Molly?" Daniel asked aloud, "Not that I'm unhappy for the company. I'm sure you're a lovely girl" He chuckled to himself. He then realised how odd this would have looked to anyone watching, and snapped his attention back to the collar.

(616)971-0250…

He carried Molly through the house with him and picked up the phone again, dialling the number on the collar.

The phone rang. Daniel stood there with the phone to his ear, looking at the dog perched on his counter. He chuckled again at the absurdity of the situation.

Suddenly it occurred to him: how DID Molly get into his bed? Was there someone in his apartment who had put her there? Was the person still here?

However, before he could address these questions, there was a voice on the other end of the phone.

"Stephanie's Pet Shop, Stephanie speaking, how can I help?"

Daniel checked his watch. It was 7.17pm. Seemed a bit strange for a pet store to be open this late.

"Hello?" Came the voice again. Daniel realised he'd been silent for a long time while looking at this watch.

"Ah, yes, hello! Sorry to call so late but I've got a strange question to ask. Are you by any chance missing a small Cocker Spaniel called Molly?" Daniel felt odd asking the question, but these were odd circumstances to begin with.

"Oh, you've found Molly? That's great! Her owner called me a little while ago saying that she was lost, but it's great to hear someone's found her! Is she in good health?"

Daniel felt a bit embarrassed about having to answer the question and looked over at Molly, still looking happily back at him. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but Molly has…passed away. It looks like someone took her to a Taxidermist and now…well, she looks peaceful enough…" Daniel finished meekly.

"Oh…" came the reply, "Oh dear. That is a shame. She was such a sweet pup. Always excited to see a friendly face. Do you know how she died?"

"Honestly, I haven't got a clue. But if I had to guess, I'd say it was some kind of accident on the road or something. One of her legs…" Daniel felt uneasy looking at it. The angle of the leg looked all the more unusual given Molly's cheerful demeanour. "Well, it looks kind of painful, that's all I can say really."

"Poor Molly. I should probably phone Jade and let her know that Molly has been found. It's such a shame too; she only just adopted Molly…"

Daniel was stock still listening to Stephanie talk, his insides feeling like they had jumped into his throat.

"I'm sorry, you, ah…you said 'Jade', right?" He felt his voice break as he struggled to get the question out.

"Yes that's right, Jade White. She came by about 3 weeks ago for a visit. We're old school friends you see, and when I showed her Molly she said that she was just the sweetest puppy that she'd ever laid eyes on. She filled in the paperwork and took Molly home that day. 2 weeks later she called me saying Molly had gone missing. Such a shame."

Daniel failed to hear the rest of Stephanie's dialogue. He almost dropped the phone after hearing the words 'Jade White'. His hand was now shaking and he could feel his mouth go dry. He put his free hand on the hand holding the phone to stop the shaking, and spoke slowly and carefully to Stephanie.

"Could you please tell me what Jade looks like?"

"Oh sure, she's about 5 foot 6, long brown hair and she's always wearing a bright red jumper when she comes to town. Do you two know each other?"

Daniel had to let go of the phone and put his hands over his mouth to stop himself from throwing up. He was on his knees and his eyes were filling with tears.

"Hello? You still there?" came Stephanie's voice from the phone, now dangling by its cord from the countertop.

Daniel struggled to his feet, legs still shaking under him, and pulled the phone back to his face.

"Y-yes, I'm still here. I'm sorry, but are you sure that it's Jade White that Molly belongs to?"

"Oh yes, for certain! I've known Jade for a long time, I'd know her anywhere!" Stephanie replied with an unnerving tone of self-assurance.

Daniel swallowed and continued "It's just that I think you may be mistaken. Jade…" He trailed off, dreading having to say what he knew to be true.

Stephanie went on unabated "In fact I saw her just yesterday at the corner shop, she's staying here for the summer, so I run into her from time to time!"

Daniel now stopped trying to push his point through and paused for a moment. "Stephanie? Stephanie Claramond? THAT Stephanie?" He said, wondering how he could have forgotten.

"Yes! Do we know each other?"

"I think so! I'm Daniel Skinner; I was…Jade and I…" He trailed off, his words caught in his throat again.

"Daniel…Oh yes, Daniel! Of course! I haven't seen you in ages!" Stephanie exclaimed, still seemingly oblivious to the worry in Daniel's voice.

"Wow, that's…odd, to say the least!" Daniel stated, distracted for a moment by the absurdity of it all. "Wait, when you said 'here', where is 'here'

"Silent Hill! Me and Jade used to come here all the time when we were younger, and it's great that she still comes to visit! We get on like a house on fire when she's about!" Stephanie continued, still unable to hear the concern in Daniel's voice.

"Fuck me…" Daniel muttered under his breath as Stephanie went on about the time they'd come for a weekend during college to go to the fairground.

"And she got sick from eating too much before going on one of the rides; Jade really was filled with too much bravado back then!" Stephanie went on.

"Listen, Stephanie, I'd like to speak to Jade. Do you know if there's any way I could do that?"

"Umm…" Stephanie paused for thought, "To be honest, she's been keeping to herself a lot lately; I don't even know what her phone number is these days. She just comes over if she wants to hang out; she knows where I am anyway…"

"But you said she's here for the summer, right?" Daniel said, panic seeping into his voice, "She's going to be in town for a while longer?"

"Oh, for sure! She's gonna be here for at least another week! What was it she said, "Too many memories to relive" or something like that? She doesn't usually have a flair for the dramatic, haha!" Stephanie laughed.

"Ok. If you see her, tell her I'm coming to give her Molly back." Daniel said. He felt a small amount of conviction in his voice, but it was drowning in the waves of nausea he still felt. He looked at Molly, with a mixture of fear and determination. The dog smiled back.

"Alright, I will! Do you know how to get to Silent Hill from where you are Daniel?"

"Don't worry," Daniel said, "I've been there before."


End file.
